Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome back to our Christmas edition of Big City Catholics. As we come to the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve. Right around the corner we begin our podcast in prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Our prayer is from the fourth Sunday of Advent, the opening collect of the mass. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, your son, was made known by the message of angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, and in the name.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, Father Henny, that prayer for the fourth Sunday of Advent is mighty familiar, isn't it?
[00:00:54] Speaker A: That sounds very familiar.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: It comes at the end of the Angeles. It's the concluding prayer to the Angeles. And it's beautiful how some of those prayers, which again they reflect the actual translation of the third typical edition of the roman missal, but how they reflect also some of our common prayers. That happens other points during the year as well. But pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, thy grace, into our heart.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: That's right, the incarnation. That message is quickly approaching.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: It's all over this weekend we've had since the 17th. So since last Sunday, the turn toward the coming birth of Christ, we focused in on all the mysteries leading up to it. And again, this fourth Sunday of Advent always takes in one of those key moments before the birth of Christ, whether it be the annunciation to Joseph from Matthew's Gospel, or the annunciation to Mary, as it is this year in Luke's Gospel, or the visitation. So this coming Sunday we focus in on the enunciation, the message of the enunciation, but lead immediately, even that night, into the vigil masses of Christmas.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Yeah, we're reflecting about that before the podcast.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: This year it's a sprint. This year we're running a sprint going right from one into the next. But these are joy filled days, hope filled days, as we reflect on the mysteries of our know. I was here at the co cathedral earlier in the week on the day when again we did the Annunciation. We had the Annunciation a lot this year. We had the Immaculate Conception, one of the masses for Guadalupe. That was an option, and we used it at one of the masses. That's right. We had it earlier this week, on Wednesday, I think it was, and we'll have it again on Sunday.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: We're hearing that message and over and over and over again.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think the Lord's speaking to us, right?
[00:02:41] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: And you and I spoke a little bit about it. I spoke at mass about the meditation. When it comes during the week on the 20 December, St. Bernard reflects, almost as if he's a fly on the wall, and he's just sitting and listening to the conversation between Gabriel and Mary. And he's sitting there saying, please, mary, say yes. Say yes. And he talks about how everything is depending on your yes. He speaks of the figures of the past, like Adam and Eve, David, Abraham, like all these figures from the past who are waiting for God's promise to be saved. They're waiting, but there are future generations that are counting on, you know, you.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Mentioned in your homily that day that as if that millisecond were to take an eternity, you're just waiting. And you'd never really consider that as, that's the beauty of that reflection, is we always just say. She turns and says, yes, she does. Yes. But it's that brief moment, like in.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: The midst, it seems like an eternity for those who are waiting an eternity, it seems like an eternity. But, boy. And then the other thing is, after you read it, you just let out a big sigh. You can't help but get caught in it. One of the great things about this season, there are beautiful meditations. We have the infancy narratives in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospel of Luke. And then, of course, on Christmas day, we have the beautiful prologue from St. John's Gospel. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So it's a beautiful prologue. We have great scripture. We have great art. What's been done in art through the years to tell the story of the coming of God among us is great and inspiring. And we have great meditations from people like St. Bernard, St. Anselm, St. Irenaeus. Irenaeus was a great one to talk about the incarnation, St. Leo the great, on Christmas day. His meditation is just beautiful. Christian, remember your dignity. This day is for everybody. Let the saint rejoice. Let the sinner find forgiveness. So, yeah, these days are just filled with beautiful images.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: It's rich. It is absolutely rich. Of course, you're mentioning all the aspects, the readings, the art, the music. Of course, many churches will have carols before their midnight mass, and even the change of the advent songs, some of which we've discussed earlier in different podcasts. People look east. Whether people like that song or not, but those songs change now we're no longer awaiting the coming. Now we're rejoicing at the coming of the savior.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: We're always going to be looking ahead to be vigilant, to be awake. But we do so with tremendous hope, because we know, like Mary, that God fulfills his promises. God keeps the promises, and that's a great thing. And we need to know, like Mary, how much God loves us. Mary was assured of God's love. That's one of the key moments in the annunciation. Mary knew that she was loved by God. That's why she could say yes so readily. On the immaculate conception, we had the enunciation contrasted with Adam and Eve, with the beginning of original sin from which Mary was preserved. Mary was preserved from original sin. She knew she was loved by God, whereas Adam and Eve, the devil, could convince them that God was holding out on them. That's right, God loves you. But maybe not totally.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: That's right. Isn't it interesting too, that this last week, as we lead up to Christmas, we had the readings of the Annunciation of Mary, but also the angel Gabriel. The day prior. Earlier in the week, the day before Tuesday, we read the Gabriel's announcement to Zechariah of Elizabeth bearing a son whom will be named John. But the know, they're sort of like they meet each other. They're sort of parallel in ways. The angel comes, they're both afraid. The angel says, do not be afraid. But Mary, preserved from any sin, receives that message and accepts it readily.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Zechariah loves and God's faithful. Yeah, and Zechariah fan, are you kidding me?
I mean, I hate to say it, but I probably would fit more in Zechariah's shoes than Mary's. I agree. Yeah.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: I think that we hope to aspire.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: To be believing Zechariah wasn't an right. But you know, sometimes the promises that God make are big and sometimes they could make us say, okay, I'm not sure if I'm up to this.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: I agree. Yeah, I reflected on that this week too. Just thinking of the different responses.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Matthew's gospel doesn't name him Gabriel, but then even the day before that, the message of the angel to Joseph.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Again, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. That's an important part of our Christmas message. Don't be afraid. It comes up so many times, the word behold and don't be afraid. It's true. The reaction of Mary, of Joseph of Zechariah could have been fear. And yet don't be afraid, not because it's going to be easy. We know it wasn't long after the birth of Christ, when he was presented in the temple that Mary was told that there was going to be a lot of suffering in her life. And she knew even that day, she didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but she knew it wasn't going to be easy. Yeah, don't be afraid. Not because it's going to be easy. Don't be afraid because God's going to be with you. He loves you, he's going to accompany you, he's going to help you, he's going to be true to his promises.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: You often mention even that phrase, like the messiness of life, that there's going to be messiness. There is messiness. We're engulfed in the messiness of life, and Jesus wants to come. He comes into that, the messiness.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: That's part of the message of Christmas as well. I mean, where is he born? In a stable. It was about as messy as you can get. Parents on a journey to fulfill what the civil law was requiring, but to accomplish what God was actually doing, making their way to Bethlehem, coming on the time and still not having shelter. Good grief, the fear. And then the savior is born in a messy, dirty, smelly stable. And we have beautiful language. Away in a manger. No crib for a bed. A manger is a feedbox. Good grief. He stepped right into the messiest part of the messiness of human life. At every level. At every level. And then even the visit of the shepherds. I'm sure that's exactly what Mary wanted. On the night of the birth of Jesus. Visitors very often on New Year's Day, my homily, because it picks up. The angels said to one another, come, let us see what happened. The angels went home rejoicing. And Mary treasured these things in her heart. I said, it's something we all feel after Christmas. The good news. They all went home.
They came, but they all went home.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Nice to have them, but also nice to let it is a beautiful message and I hope and pray that this Christmas, of course, a lot of parishioners have been coming to me recently and saying, we're keeping you in our prayers. You're going to be really busy. It's already a busy season.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: It is.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: But our priests certainly, and our faithful, we're really going to be required of all.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: But it's a different busyness. Good grief. We're always busy. To me, it's a different kind of busyness, and that's a relief in itself. It's great to be busy.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Doing these kinds of things. It's great to be busy celebrating with our people, proclaiming the good news of the birth of Christ. It's great to be celebrating, welcoming some people home. Many of our parishes have their students who are away at college and they're coming home for the first time. And people who are living in other parts of the area maybe coming back home for Christmas. That's the kind of busyness that I enjoy. You see people, and we're all there for the same reason, to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, to celebrate his. Then you know, Christmas doesn't end there. This is where I'm with the liturgist. We've talked about this last year. I'm not big on oh, you can't celebrate during Advent. I know it's a penitential season and we mark that, but it is also a season of preparation. It's a season of great hope. So fact that Christmas carol start, that we start decorating, that's great, because I often say the fight isn't between Christmas and advent. Right now in the world, the fight is between Christmas and nothing and secularism. I don't mind all of that, but what I do mind, Christmas doesn't begin the day after Thanksgiving and end the day after Christmas. But we have a season and an octave. We have an octave. So for eight days until New Year's Day, we continue this ongoing celebration of the birth of Christ. Our masses are celebrated as feast days. With the Gloria and all of that, we're uplifted. We're focusing in on the readings of Christmas. Well, not, I take that back. We're focusing in on other mysteries. There are different feasts that come up during the octave. St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist. But then also we have the Christmas days continuing this season of joy. This year, again, it's a shortened season, not unlike Advent, because we go until Epiphany Sunday, the day after, I believe, is the baptism of the Lord.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Okay. And because otherwise, when it comes after January 6, when epiphany comes after January 6, we celebrate the baptism of the Lord right away. We don't go into another week. So it's a short season, but still it's a season of Christmas. It's not over on the 26th.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: That's right. Although the radio stations would have you believe it.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: And our shopping centers would have you believe it. But for us, we've been preparing for this for, well, probably, as we say, the shortest advent season yet, but we've been preparing for it and we're going to celebrate it. Christmas will celebrate. We continue. And next Sunday we celebrate the feast of the holy family.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: That's right, another sprint feast of the holy family right into New Year's. But yes, we celebrate the feast of the holy family. And this year the reading takes us to the presentation of which we spoke about before, where Mary and Joseph bring the child Jesus to the temple, to his temple, to where God dwells. God comes to his temple. Whereas God had dwelt symbolically in his temple. Now God comes to his temple. But that's where they meet Simeon and Anna, people who had long awaited the coming of Christ, who long awaited being able to see him and that great statement of faith. Now, Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace. My eyes have seen everything.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: What a beautiful reflection.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: But as we do that on the feast of the holy family, we also celebrate our families. And again we go back to the messiness of human life. We don't try to paint an idyllic picture of our families. Families are actually where we learn how to manage in this world. So we hopefully, and I know sometimes situations can be very painful, very rough, very traumatic. So we pray for people for whom family life is traumatic. But for most of us, it's where we learn that we're loved, where we learn mercy, where we learn how to forgive and be forgiven. It's where we learn how to get on with one another, that we have to put aside differences or put aside our own will and defer, as St. Paul says, to one another out of reverence for Christ. Pope St. Paul VI speaks of the family as the school of Nazareth. We remember how Jesus learned how to be human and where we learned and how to be human, but also how to look toward God.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: That's right. And as you mentioned, even just in varied circumstances, just to give thanks to God. Always, as the readings would say, as St. Paul would say, people have aging parents, people taking care of their parents, people who are in difficult situations, family wise or dealing with varied circumstances.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: I was talking about the enunciation, how Mary said yes to God. Didn't know what that would hold. I mean, husbands and wives say yes to each other on the day of the wedding, and they do so in faith, hope and love. They do so in hope, knowing that God's going to help them. So they're saying yes to everything. They're saying yes to the joy of being together and being in love. They're saying yes to the joys and the trials of child rearing. And I see this now in my own family. My parents said yes 62 years ago to being caregivers, in a sense, to one another, but particularly my father having to give total 24/7 care for my mom. They didn't know how it was going to unfold, but they said yes that day. And for me, the witness of what their life has turned to be really is a beautiful lesson of what marriage is about for me. Boy, do I see the yes that they made 62 years ago. I think I've said this before. My father would have every reason to feel sorry for himself. And yet he's filled with gratitude, with all the sacrifice he has to make on a daily basis. He'll say, I thank God that mom's with us. I thank God for all the years we had together. And then he says, I get such a kick out of this. I never realized how much your mother had to do. He says, I'm preparing a simple microwave dinner for two, and it's a job. And she was working, coming home for work and providing a meal for seven and all the things that she took care of without drawing any attention to herself. And so he's saying that what he's going through right now increases his appreciation for the many, many things that she did for us and our family. And so, in some ways, while it's not what we would have liked to have seen, this isn't what we imagined or wanted. But, boy, it gives us some tremendous insights and just deepens the love and the gratitude in all of our hearts. But really learning from my dad in that, amen.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: As you say, it's a lesson in marriage. It's just a lesson in commitment. It's a lesson for all of us when we see that lived out beautifully, that as chief shepherd, as Pastor, as Deacon, as lay faithful, we're learning these lessons. And again, back to Mary, let your yes be a yes, full yes in love and in true commitment, in good times and bad.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: So, listen, we're coming up on this whole octave of Christmas. Our big city Catholic podcast is we're going to take a little, not a real hiatus. We're going to take a little hiatus. So next week's podcast, which brings us into the octave of Christmas, will be a recorded message from our Christmas mass. And so I thank you in advance for your forbearance with that, all of you who are listening. And then the following two weeks, we're going to take the show on the road again.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Back on the road.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: So on the 1 January we have a delegation going to St. Louis for the Sikh conference, S-E-E-K which is the annual focus missionaries conference. So this will be my fourth time at focus, but finally I'm going with the delegation. I always joke we brought focus to Stony Brook, and a year before I could ever go with them to seek, I was transferred to Ohio. We got focus going to Ohio State, and that September I was moved to Brooklyn. So every year I'm going to say, is this possible to bring focus to wherever I am. Last year I went talking about bringing focus to Queens. And finally I'm getting to go with the queen's delegation. We have a delegation from Queens College. We have a delegation of other college students. We have a delegation that includes our seminarians. So we're going to have a delegation of young, when I say young, college age students who are going to be there. And it's always a great moment because it's one of those moments. And I speak of these often when young people get to see that they're not alone.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: And some very inspirational talks and beautiful liturgies. I'm looking forward to it. But while we're away, I will have opportunities to speak with people involved in the conference. And so we'll use those for our podcast. So to share the excitement. So that'll take us through the first week or two of January. And so mid January we'll be back to our regular kinds of podcasts, but hopefully these will be enjoyable as well.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Bishop, when you came back from seek last year, you were on fire with excitement and joy. So I really look forward to those recordings and interviews as well. And then, yeah, we'll be back to a new year, a new swing of recordings as we continue through our big city Catholic podcast. There's a great article in the tablet this week about evangelizing via social media and other means podcasts as well, and they reference our big city Catholic podcast. So I hope that our tablet readers will have a chance to take a look at that as well.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: And as we kind of wrap up the year in this time of Christmas, I take this opportunity to thank all of our listeners for staying with us, for being part of these conversations, to wish all of you a very merry Christmas, a very blessed Christmas. Saying merry Christmas, not necessarily deck the halls and la la la. I hope you'll have a lot of that. But the profound joy, Mary treasured these things in her heart, the profound joy of being like Mary to reflect on these great mysteries which give our life meaning and hope, to ponder them in our heart and to let them be our hope, our joy, our motivation, our confidence into the new year. God bless you this Christmas and throughout the coming new year.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Thank you, bishop. Perhaps you'd like to give us your blessing?
[00:19:52] Speaker B: Sure. So let us pray. Loving mother of the Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea, assist your people who have fallen, yet strive to rise again to the wonderment of nature. You bore your creator, yet remained a virgin after as before. You who received Gabriel's joyful greeting, have pity on us poor sinners.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: The Lord be with you and with your spirit.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and your families, especially in this time of Christmas and throughout the coming new new year, and remain with you forever and ever.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: In the name of the Father, the Son, the holy spirit. Amen.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Thank you, bishop. A very merry Christmas to you and your family, to all of our listeners, and we'll see you back in the new year.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: God bless.
